Pickup truck and trailer passageway device

ABSTRACT

The invention comprises a pickup truck having a box at the rear with a camper mounted on said box. The pickup truck having a cab, with a doorway in the rear of said cab and camper has a doorway in its front and a sleeve connects the doorways together, the cab has a movable door for said cab doorway and the camper has an enclosure in the doorway of said camper.

United States Patent 1151 3,638,991 Hathaway, Jr. 1 Feb. 1, 1972 [54]PICKUP TRUCK AND TRAILER [56] References Cited PASSAGEWAY DEVICE UNITEDSTATES PATENTS [721 gm g g a'z g :51; 30 2,568,684 9/1951 Mihalyi..1o5/1s e 3,297,355 1/1967 Robinson.. ...296/23 MC [22] Filed: July 10,1970 3,321,234 5/1967 Harrell ..296/23 MC [21] APPl- 53,971 PrimaryExam1'nerPhilip Goodman Related US. Application Data Attorney-RobertKleve [63] Continuation-impart 6f Ser. No. 716,040, Mar. 26, ABSTRACTI968 abandoned' The invention comprises a pickup truck having a box atthe rear with a camper mounted on said box. The pickup truck [52] U.S.Cl..296/23, 105/18 having a cab with a doorway i h realf i b d [51 Int.CL... ..B60p 3/32 camper h a do rw y in its front and a leeve connectsthe [58] Field of Search ..296/23, 23 MC; 105/18 doorways together, thecab has a movable door for said cab doorway and the camper has anenclosure in the doorway of said camper.

3 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures PATENIEDFiB 11972- 3538591 SHEEI 1 OF 3FIG.3A.

INVENTOR Milton R. Hothowoy,J|:

ATTORNEY PATENTED FEB 1 I972 SHEET 2 UF 3 ATTORNEY PATENIED FEB 1 I972SHEET 3 [IF 3 INVENTOR MILTON R. HATHAWAY, JR.

ATTORNEY FIG. /4.

PICKUP TRUCK AND TRAILER PASSAGEWAY DEVICE The invention relates tomobile campers, more particularly, the invention relates to campersmounted on pickup trucks. This application is a continuation-in-part ofmy earlier copending patent application Ser. No. 716,040, filed Mar. 26,1968, now abandoned.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel passageway structureconnecting the camper on a pickup truck with the cab of the truck.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel connectingpassageway structure between the camper of the pickup truck and the cabwhich is adjustable to different-size campers and trucks, and to providea weatherproof passageway between the camper and cab of a pickup truckwhile the truck is in motion.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel pickup truckand camper device which includes a structure for separating andfor'closing the camper, and for closing the cab when the camper isdetached from the truck.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the campencab passageway structureinvention. I

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the camperand cab passageway structure invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the camper and cab passagewaystructure invention.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the removable door.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the cab of the pickup truck with the camperillustrated in phantom lines.

FIG. 5 is fragmentary side elevational view of a first modified form ofthe invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view similar to FIG.5 of the first modified form, with the folding camper door shown closed.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line8-8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the cab of the first modified form, withthe camper removed.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a second modified formof the invention.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged side elevational view similar to FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 12-12ofFIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 13-13 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged rear view of the cab door taken along line14-ofFlG. 11.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I5-l5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 16-16 of FIG. 4.

Briefly stated, the camper-cab passageway invention comprises a pickuptruck having a cab with a camper mounted to the rear of the truck, saidcamper having a front doorway confronting the rear of the cab of thetruck, a flexible bellows sleeve surrounds said doorway and abuts therear of the cab, said cab having a doorway centrally of the width andalong the back of the cab, the bellows surround said doorway in saidcab, a pair of sliding doors are slidably mounted in said camper onopposite sides of of said front camper doorway and adapted to slidetoward one another to close said doorway, a door panel detachablymounted to said cab to close said cab passageway when said camper isdetached from said truck.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, in FIG. 1, the camper cabpassageway invention 20 is illustrated as having a pickup truck 21 witha drivers cab 22 and a camper 23 mounted to the rear of the truck 21. Aflexible rubber sleeve bellows 24 is mounted between the cab 22 and thecamper 23.

The-rubber bellows 24 has a rectangular sleeve shape with anaccordianlike fold. The one face 24' of the sleeve bellows 24 is fixedto the front end 26 of the camper 23 and surrounds a doorway 27 in thefront end 26 of the camper. The other outer face 24"of the bellows 24 isfree and is adapted, when the camper is mounted to the rear of the truck21, as illustrated in FIG. I, to engage against the 24" face 22' of thecab 22 as shown in FIGS. 2 & 4. When the camper is completely installedasshown in FIGS. 1 & 2, the outer face 24" of the bellows 24 conforms tothe outer face 22 of the cab to pro- Y fiil ilL l lfil-m I.

The back face 22' of the cab has a rectangular doorway 29 cuttherethrough and a pair of side windows 30 and 30' with flat ribs 31 and31' on the inner edge of the windows which form inner side frames forthe windows and also act to provide a related flat surface for the innerface of the bellows to engage against, so that an airtight seal can beprovided between the bellows and the cab, with the camper and thebellows which have been operatively installed as illustrated in FIGS. 1and 2. lmwqyebs gwszibas 5 19i? an bottom flat edge portion 32 and 33and side flat edges 34 and 35 which fit flush against the back face ofthe cab with the side flat edge 34 and 35 abutting the side ribs 30 and30 of the backface of the cab to create an airtight seal.

A pair of sliding doors 36 and 36' are slidably mounted with the frontpanel 26 of the camper and are slidably mounted toward one another tomove from their position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3 toclose thepassageway in the front gf thecamper. i i

Ame metal door 37 has window 37' in the upper portion. The door 37 ismounted in the passageway 29 of the cab 22 when the camper 23 is removedfrom the truck. The rectangular metal door 37 hasv four lugs 38 whichare fixed to the edges of the door 37 with bolts 39 which are threadedinto the lugs 38 and into the back face 22 of the cab 22. The lugs 38are rearwardly offset so that the door may fit flush with the back ofthe cab while the lugs project outwardly over the back face of the cabin staggered offset relation to the outer surface of the door.

In operating the invention, when it is desired to use the truck 21without the camper 23, the camper 23, with the flexible bellows 24attached thereto, will be removed from the rear of the truck 21 and theremovable metal door 37 will be bolted into the doorway 29 in the backof the cab to close the doorway while using the truck without the ca mper.

If it is desired to install the camper to the truck, the door 37 will beremoved from the cab 22 by unthreading bolts 39 from the cab thusfreeing the door for its removal.

After the door 37 has been removed, the camper 23 will be installed intothe rear of the truck, with the front face 24 of the 24 abutting therear face 22' of the cab 22 with the side fiat edges 34 and 35 of thebellows abutting the side ribs 31 and 31 of the cab to create theairtight seal.

If it is desired to close the passageway between the cab and camperwhile the camper is installed, the sliding doors will be slidhorizontally toward one another causing the passageway between thecamper and the cab to be closed.

Within the cab of the truck are a pair of bucket seats 40 and 41 one ofeach side of the doorway 29 so that a person may walk easily between thecab of the truck and the camper while the truck is in motion, beingdriven on the roadway.

It will also be seen from the foregoing that the novel passagewaystructure enables the structure to be adapted to qsmasrssir i erqm sizesand whe ei ,rliediwee lem n the rear face of the cab and the front faceof the camper vary. Also, in the event the camper is being stored outdoors while detached from the truck, the sliding doors provide a closureto keep the camper closed from the outside air and to prevent leaves andother refuse from being blown into the camper through the doorway.

The bellows 24 may be made of other flexible material so as to adjust todifferent dimensions between the camper and the cab. The outer edge 24"of the bellows maybe secured to the back of the cab by bolts or othersecuring means.

In the first modified form of the invention 45 illustrated in FIGS. -8.inclusive, the pickup truck 21 and camper 23 are of the same type asillustrated in FIGS. 1-4, inclusive wherein the camper 23 is slidablyand detachably mounted into the box 25 ofthe pickup truck 2|.

The camper 23 has a rectangular doorway 47 along its forward wall orpanel 48 which is offset to the right of the center of the forward panel48. A U-shaped resilient cushion 49 is fixed or mounted to the outerface of the front panel 48 of the camper, with the apex 49' of thecushion 49 extending across the top of the doorway 47 and the legs49"and 49" extending along the vertical sides of the doorway. Thecushion 49 may be made of sponge rubber and may have a bellowslikeconstruction similar to the bellows 24.

The cab 22 of the pickup truck 21 also has a rectangular doorway 50along its rear wall 51, which doorway is also offset to the right of thecenter of the rear wall 51 of the cab 22, when viewed from FIG. 8.

The doorway 50 of the cab 22 has a door 52, which fits into the doorway50. The door 52 has an inner downward projecting lip 52' along its loweredge 53, which hooks over ridge 54 of the doorway 50. The upper edge 55of the door has an L- shaped plate 56 with the vertical leg 56' weldedto the top 55 of the door 52 and the horizontal leg 56" projectingoverthe top 57 9 the 2 a a. Pair.gthdtsmasLm r v through the plateportion 56" and are threaded with bores 59 & 59 on the top 57 of thecab.

The toep elfi 9f ll ?QEEPQLDMBELQEEQ EEQQUQ which further enlarges thedoorway 47.

The camper 23 has a vertically slidable and foldable door 61 The door 6l h as a flexible panel portion 61." with a plurality of zigzag folds.Reinforcement metal rods 62 are attached to and extend across the upperfold lines 63 of the panel 61' and are attached thereto by stitching orother conventional means. The panel also has a plurality of metal rods64 which extend across the panel 61' at the lower fold lines 65 and therods 64 are also attached to the panel 61' by stitching or otherconventional means.

The outer ends 64 and 64" of each of the rods 64 project into a pair ofU-channels 66 & 67 which are fixed on opposite sides of the doorway 4 7o n the inside face 48 3f the front wall V or panel 48 of the camper.The outer ends 64 and 64 of the rods 64 act as guides to align the panel61 ofthe folding door 61 by sliding up and down in the channels 66 & 67,so that the panel 61 of the folding door 61 may slide upward and foldinto an accordianlike shape as illustrated in FIG. 5 or the: panel 61 of the fol ding door 61 may be slid downward tg a relatively flat orstraightened position as illustrated in 3 FIG. 6 to close the doorway 47with the rods 64 sliding in! the channels 66 8L 67 acting to maintainthe panel of the foldl ing door 61 in alignment in the doorwayfll I inated by numeral 92 to its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 9 withthe door 52 fitted flush into the doorway 50 with the lower lip 52' ofthe door 52 hooked over the lip 54 of the doorway 50 and the top plateportion 56" ot' the door 5 bolted to the top 57 of the cab by the bolts91 & 91 being threaded back into bores S9 8L 59' to thereby close thedoorw y uh; 9 f t qa sk p truck- When the camper is being storeddetached from the pickup truck, the folding door 61 may then be closedto substantially seal the camper from the outside environment orweather.

SECOND MODIFIED FORM The second modified form of passageway structurebetween 15 the camper 23 and the cab 22 of the pickup truck 2] isillussdi .95; EH ihs y vswhs si t e Pi truck and camper 23 are also ofthe same type as illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, with the camper 23 slidablyand detachably mounted in thQbQX issflmiskyytrysh The camper 23 has arectangular doorway 70 along its forward wall 84 which doorway is offsetto the right ofthe center of the forward wall 84 of the camper whenviewed from FIG. .Th; a 219mb; icky tr 2 2 9, ha Rectangular doorway 72along its rear wall 73 which is also offset to the right of the centerof the rear wall 73 of the cab, when viewed from FIG-.13-

The pickup truck cab has a folding door 74 which is of the same type asillustrated in the first modified form of the invention employingflexible panel 75 which when opened as illus- 4.ih,E G.-Illhaiaaisles-sha ewh no p h dan s nated by numeral 76 and which may bestraightened out to a closed position as illustrated in phantom lines inFIG. 10 and designated by n urneral'll. v

l Themed 75 of thstqlti sdget 4 2 1 9 h a plurality lmetal reinforcementrods 78 which are sewn to the upper fold ;lines 79 of the panel 75 and aplurality of metal reinforcevment rods 80 which are sewn to the lowerfold lines 79 of the panel 75. The lower metal reinforcement rods 80have their 40 outer ends 80 8c 80 projecting out into a pair ofU-channels 81 & 82 which U-channels extend in parallel relation to oneahe sralensihs 19R an r W 9 t 93 The rods 80 slide in the U-channels 81& 82 as the door 74 45 is folded to an open position and when the door74 straightn eut teqlosethe doorway, n maintain a guide the flexibledoor74. v

A wooden door 83 is slidably mounted in the front wall 84 QUQQQMERQIl lkhqi fil l y qagt hh w 84 f the camper from its open position shown inFIG. 13, in dashed and solid lines to a position across the doorway 70toclose the front wall 84 ofthe camper.

When it is desired to use the pickup truck 21 without the when it isdesired to use the l- 23 with camper 23, the camper 23 will be removedand the folding truck 21, the door 52 will be slid or moved along therear wall of the cab from its position shown in FIG. 9 to its positionshown in FIGS. 5 & 8, an whereupon the door 52 will be secured in thispositi on l ythfloltsgl 91 being threade d into a second set of bores 68& 69 in the top 57 of the cab to thereby secure the door 52 to the cab,with the door offset to the left of the center of the rear of the cabwhen viewed from FIG. 8. Once the door 52 has been moved to its left ofcenter position, the camper 23 may then be slid onto the box 24 of thepickup truck shown in FIG. 5, with the legs 49" and 49" .65

of the cushion 49 engaging the rear wall of the cab and the I apex 49'of the cushion engaging the top 57 of the cab and extending across thetop of the doorway 50 to provide an enclosure or seal the doorway 50.

Once the camper 23 has been placed in position, the the verticallyslidable and folding door 61 may be operated to i open and close thepassageway between the cab and camper formed by the cushion 49 betweendoorways 47 & 50.

When it is desired to use the pickup truck without the camper. thecamper 23 will be slidably removed from the box 25 and the door 52 willbe slid from its position shown in solid The sliding door 83 of thecamper will also be closed to seal 60 the camper-from the weather.

- The camper 23 also has a U-shaped cushion 85 fixed thereto made ofsponge rubber or which also may have a bellowslike construction and madeof rubber. The cushion 85 has its apex 85 extending along the undersideof the horizontal panel 86 of the camper and its legs 85 8L 85"extending along the front wall 84 6f the camperori opposite sides of thedoorway 70 of .th m

A pair of generally triangularly shaped wooden filler panel members 87 &88 are fitted and extend between the legs of the cushion 85 and thefront wall 84 of the camper to provide a connection between the sleeveand camper and to mould the its position shown in FIG. 10 to open thecab doorway 72,

and the camper will be slid onto the box of the pickup truck with theU-shaped resilient cushion 85, which is similar to the cushion 49engaging around the sides and top of the doorway in the cab of thepickup truck to thereby seal camper to the cab and the sliding door 83may be used to open and close the passageway between the cab and camper.

7 Similarly in the first modified form of the invention a pair of woodenpanel members 89 & 90 are fitted between the legs of the cushion 49 andthe front wall 48 of the camper to provide a connection between thesleeve and camper and mould the contour of the sleeve.

The camper 23 illustrated in the second modified form of the invention(FIG. 10-12) may also be employed with the cab 22 of the pickup truckand its door and doorway construction, illustrated in FIGS. 5-9 of thefirst form of the invention, as the camper 23 of the third form of theinvention is interchangeable between either the cab 23 of the firstmodified form of the invention or the cab 23 of the second modified formof the invention.

The cushions 49 8t 85 in the second and third forms of the inventionwill be under slight compression against the backwall of the cab whenthe camper is mounted to the pickup truck to create a weatherproofenclosure.

It will be obvious that various changes and departures may be made tothe invention without departing from the spirit thereof and accordinglyit is not intended that the invention be limited to that specificallydescribed in the specification or illustrated in the drawing but only asset forth in the appended claims wherein:

What is claimed is:

l. A truck camper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to therear of said truck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truckhaving a cab, said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in thefront of said camper extendin g downward in length and terminatedadjacent the bottom of said camper, said cab having a verticallyelongated doorway along its rearward portion coinciding in width andlength with said camper doorway, a vertically elongated sleeve havingresilient surfaces under compression between said camper and cab andsurrounding said doorway, said cab having a vertically elongated doorpanel for closing said cab doorway and detachable from said cab doorwayfor the attachment of said camper and sleeve to said pickup truck andcab, wherein said resilient sleeve forms a folding bellowslikeconstruction and wherein said camper has slidable door means along itsfront slidable horizontally to close said camper doorway.

2. A truck camper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to therear of said truck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truckhaving a cab, said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in thefront of said camper extending downward in length and terminatedadjacent the bottom of said camper, said cab having a verticallyelongated doorway along its rearward portion coinciding in width andlength with said camper doorway, a vertically elongated inverted U-shaped cushion having resilient surfaces under compression between saidcamper and cab and surrounding said doorway, said cab having avertically elongated door panel for closing said cab doorway and for theattachment of said camper and sleeve to said pickup truck and cab, andwherein said cab door panel is slidable to close said cab doorway andadjustable to a position on said cab away from said cab doorway forattachment of said camper and cushion to said pickup truck and cab, saidresilient cushion forming a passageway between said camper and cabdoorways, said camper having slidably door means to slidably close saidcamper doorway.

3. A truck camper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to therear of said truck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truckhaving a cab, said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in thefront of said camper extending downward in length and terminatedadjacent the bottom of said camper, said cab having a verticallyelongated doorway along its rearward portion coinciding in width andlength with said camper doorway, a vertically elongated inverted U-shaped channel having resilient surfaces under com ression between saidcamper and cab and surrounding said oorway,

said cab having a vertically elongated door panel for closing said cabdoorway and movable away from said cab doorway for the attachment ofsaid camper and sleeve to said pickup truck and cab, said channelforming a passageway between said camper and cab doorways, said camperhaving slidably door means to close said camper doorway.

1. A truck camper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to therear of said truck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truckhaving a cab, said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in thefront of said camper extending downward in length and terminatedadjacent the bottom of said camper, said cab having a verticallyelongated doorway along its rearward portion coinciding in width andlength with said camper doorway, a vertically elongated sleeve havingresilient surfaces under compression between said camper and cab andsurrounding said doorway, said cab having a vertically elongated doorpanel for closing said cab doorway and detachable from said cab doorwayfor the attachment of said camper and sleeve to said pickup truck andcab, wherein said resilient sleeve forms a folding bellowslikeconstruction and wherein said camper has slidable door means along itsfront slidable horizontally to close said camper doorway.
 2. A truckcamper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to the rear of saidtruck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truck having a cab,said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in the front of saidcamper extendinG downward in length and terminated adjacent the bottomof said camper, said cab having a vertically elongated doorway along itsrearward portion coinciding in width and length with said camperdoorway, a vertically elongated inverted U-shaped cushion havingresilient surfaces under compression between said camper and cab andsurrounding said doorway, said cab having a vertically elongated doorpanel for closing said cab doorway and for the attachment of said camperand sleeve to said pickup truck and cab, and wherein said cab door panelis slidable to close said cab doorway and adjustable to a position onsaid cab away from said cab doorway for attachment of said camper andcushion to said pickup truck and cab, said resilient cushion forming apassageway between said camper and cab doorways, said camper havingslidably door means to slidably close said camper doorway.
 3. A truckcamper comprising a pickup truck with a box mounted to the rear of saidtruck, a camper mounted to said box, said pickup truck having a cab,said camper having a vertically elongated doorway in the front of saidcamper extending downward in length and terminated adjacent the bottomof said camper, said cab having a vertically elongated doorway along itsrearward portion coinciding in width and length with said camperdoorway, a vertically elongated inverted U-shaped channel havingresilient surfaces under compression between said camper and cab andsurrounding said doorway, said cab having a vertically elongated doorpanel for closing said cab doorway and movable away from said cabdoorway for the attachment of said camper and sleeve to said pickuptruck and cab, said channel forming a passageway between said camper andcab doorways, said camper having slidably door means to close saidcamper doorway.